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deathless-dreams

Thank you for your partecipation.

#poetry #art #cw child abuse

claudia-lioncourt

JACOB ANDERSON for The Vampire Lestat Backstage Pass, Episode 1: "Detroit"

#iwtv

gwemrys

The 72-year-old British actor also had roles in shows including Merlin and Little Britain.

Oh….

#:(#anthony head #btvs

daily-dexter-image

#dexter

icarusofathousanddays

And another point: Sexual assault is part of the vampire genre—it is expected, and in some cases functionally necessary for certain tropes to exist. There’s an attitude that the torture and murder of women, sometimes intimate partners, and the constant erosion of their agency is bad, yes, but ultimately forgivable in the name of enjoying a male character who is compelling or charismatic on screen.

And yet, the singular unforgivable line people want to draw is fictional rape and sexual assault—as though it exists outside of the rest of that violence, rather than as an extension of it.

And it is absolutely an extension.

Vampirism is built on a selfish exertion of power over another person. It turns a body into something to be used—product, meal, or vector—and sexual violence fits neatly into that framework of domination and dehumanization. Rape and sexual assault are about power and humiliation over the victim.

In a genre already saturated with exploitation the distinction people try to make often feels less like a moral boundary and more like a narrative convenience.

And as a result, it becomes important in the fandom ecosystem to designate a Bad Guy to carry that weight. For many, that character is Damon. The assaults he commits are among the few the show presents clearly and directly on screen, but they are not the only instances of sexual exploitation within the narrative.

Tyler assaults Vicki on screen. Stefan sleeps with Elena without disclosing important information—the truth about Katherine—that he knows would make her think twice about consenting. Klaus surrounds himself with women who are compelled into rendering acts of service while in skimpy outfits to their eventual murderer. Mikael has seven children with a woman his people enslaved. The parallels between Damon and Katherine are intentional. Sage teaches Damon his “catch and release” method—already laden with sexual subtext—and it’s not unreasonable to read that method as something shaped by a larger vampiric culture that treats feeding, control, and sexual availability as interchangeable tools. Kol according to Finn (which he does not deny) sleeps with a nun and murders her a week later—violence that follows sex is not meaningfully separate from it.

All of this is to say that the discourse around Damon often functions as a way to isolate and contain the problem. If you can point to one character and say this is the line, this is unforgivable, then you can hold your favorites up beside him and say, “See? They’re not like that.” But that only works if you define sexual exploitation in the narrowest possible way—one that conveniently aligns with the character you already dislike.

icarusofathousanddays

#the cognitive dissonance in fandom is real#like i don't particularly like damon but he's far from the only character who has sexually exploited and assaulted people#and like you say#the entire framework of vampirism is built on said exploitation#at least with modern vampire mythology that's the main underpinnings of it#also there's something about how fandom perceives different types of violence and trauma#which has a lot to do with the mysticism surrounding anything sexual in our cultural context#so it categorizes sexual violence as mainly sexual rather than violent#(when it's not really about “desire” unless we're talking about the desire for power/control/the ability to inflict pain)#also the way that this is a line but torture/war crimes isn't at least not to the same extent in a lot of fandom#and don't get me started about how other forms of exploitation and violation of agency and choice aren't seen nearly in the same light#(slavery is the big one especially taking into account the specific settings)#also why is compulsion perfectly ok so long as there's no sexual component?#they're still literally erasing memories and rewriting people's perspective/knowledge of the world without their consent#all this to say you're extremely right and you should say it via @endless-natterings

Lovely tags as always!

This is how it feels to be in fandom sometimes:

#tvd #tw sa

eizagonzalezs

MEN BEING PROTECTIVE ♥︎ ♥︎ Damon w/ Bonnie

#bamon #tvd

iknowshocker

picking a favorite tvd man really is just deciding your favorite flavor of loser, for example:

damon: parentified eldest sibling to demonic adult pipeline, kill on sight

stefan: local man has his head so far up his own ass he can't tell he's been the problem all along, still blames everyone else

tyler: no you really don't understand this all started because of my Evil dad...also i am a dog

klaus: refuses to leave the shackles of his childhood trauma (they've been unlocked the entire time. he is also holding the key.)

enzo: will someone pls just adopt this man already, seriously where is his mother

matt: i should've died three seasons ago and we all know it!!! why do i have a gun!!!

kol: will my family ever truly love me for me or like do you think i should just kms, lol

ric: yes i'm useless but my wife is very smart so it balances everything out, right? right -

elijah: i lied, i'm a liar, are you listening?? i LIE

kai: off putting freak but so so so funny, bites

#reblogging for all of them #but especially stefan omg #tvd

cancerian-woman

ways I think Barolena could’ve been fixed a case study:

I think most of their issues are because the writers preferred the Salvatore’s over them.

Caroline's insecurities did deserve proper addressing in terms of what her deal with Elena is.

Elena dating Damon is her choice but not talking about what Damon did to Caroline was unfair to her. It's also why Elena gets tons of hate (one of the reason but whatever which is on the writing) bc Elena is dismissive of caroline's trauma, that's ignored

If Elena says she's uncomfortable with someone Caroline needs to be considerate.

Elena didn't want to apologize to Caroline with her humanity on and I think it would've been interesting to have Elena admit to what her problem was with Caroline! I think NH!Elena comments about Caroline does show internally that she does have problems with Caroline? Even if it’s small ones.

Death to the racist writing for one.

Take Bonnie back to season 1 & 2 Bonnie. She had boundaries that 3-8 lacks.

The show tells us Elena would die for Bonnie, give up anything for her but Elena never does it. The writing twists itself so Bonnie just does it. Things happen and Elena says that's sad or feels bad because she didn’t want that and the show just moves on.

Show us Elena risking something to get Bonnie back. Show us Elena idk maybe actually losing something because she loves Bonnie.

Maybe let Elena die for once to show us how much she really does love her friends, let them find away to bring her back (head nod to Buffy since Plec is so obsessed with it)

I prefer human!Elena not because of Stefan but because she got to fight, snap off at those men and make choices herself that somehow a vampire! Elena can't have uh huh... but let that Elena exists so Elena gets agency and Bonnie doesn't have to do everything!

Death to the racist writing pt. 2.

If the racist writing is axed out and some of Bonnie's personal struggles are explained like Caroline's things make much more sense in their friendship.

If you remove the racist subtexts and balance out some of the plot on Bonnie’s end. Baroline doesn’t have the problem of just being about Caroline.

Both girls are children of divorced and maybe Caroline preferred Bonnie (as she told by Care in season 1) because Bonnie probably helped Caroline out during her parents divorce.

Season 1 Baroline shows a much more silly/fun and supportive vibe than how serious Bonlena can tend to be. I think the show tried to upkeep this at times between them (and they do have softer moments) but ya know Plec of it all🥴.

Elena said SHE hated cheerleading, not Bonnie. Show Baroline cheerleading together. Care liked broadcasting/journalism.. she would've pushed Bonnie to pick a career.

Care seeing Bonnie’s magic before the Emily call would’ve been nice OR have Bonnie admit that maybe she didn’t think Caroline could handle secrets. In a way, she kinda did but?

Bonnie told Elena that she thought Caroline was gone (after she turned). I actually think it would’ve been better if Bonnie told Caroline that herself. Again, showing Bonnie’s personal struggles would’ve helped people understand why Bonnie just separated from Caroline… it’s like people forget Damon tore the girls neck out… her family studies told her how to hate or fear vamps anyway -

I think it would've been nice to acknowledge that because of Caroline not Elena/Damon/Stefan just Caroline tbh it's how Bonnie learned not to see vampires as whatever Grams said + her fam grimoires.

Show more personal moments that isn't just about Caroline.

Other than that their fine toh. PS. Caroline called Bonnie beautiful in s4 (it got deleted) but Bonnie called Care hot...ditch the men and kiss- next

Barolena as a trio.

More fun and silly moments together.

If Elena and Caroline are gonna be male centered at times Bonnie needed to be too. Or girl centered since Bonnie had to focus on them a lot.

I'd rather have them doing stupid things together than apart.

#tvd

tenmylove

effulgent-girl

Rest in Peace Michelle and Nicky

#btvs

thejackalhasarrived

teambamon-deactivated20141218

HE KNOWS HER SO WELL!

ipytms-deactivated20231115

Stefan is all like “get a room already…”

He ships it!

signalfire15-deactivated2014111

Can I just add something to that whole “HE KNOWS HER SO WELL!” comment. Bonnie is the most misunderstood character on this show, other than Damon. Simply put, no one really knows her. Stefan doesn’t know Bonnie. Stefan didn’t know that Bonnie wasn’t strong enough to do the magic he needed her to do. Ex- disabling the device, opening the tomb, killing Klaus, etc. Do you know who did though? Damon did. “Are you even up for this?” “Do you really think Bonnie can kill Klaus?” “The part about you having a 50/50 shot of surviving? Is that true?” Damon is the ONLY person who is able to see Bonnie’s weakness. Isn’t that entirely ironic considering that Bonnie is afraid to show weakness to Damon, yet, he is the one person who sees her weakness better than anyone? Caroline doesn’t know Bonnie. When Caroline turned, she thought that Bonnie hated her. She couldn’t see the pain that Bonnie was going through, and more than anything, the guilt inside of her. Because whether the fandom realized it or not, Bonnie DID feel guilty. She tried to blame everything on Damon because it was easier to blame him for existing rather than accepting responsibility for any of her mistakes. You could see it in her face when Matt told her about the car crash that she felt responsible for what happened to Caroline. But not one person in this entire show acknowledged this or saw this except for… yep, Damon. “Speaking of YOUR GUILT, how’s Caroline?” Isn’t that entirely ironic considering that Bonnie blames Damon for everything, yet, Damon is the one person who can actually see that, underneath it all, she blames herself. Jeremy doesn’t know Bonnie. I don’t need to point out all the ways in which Jeremy does not know Bonnie. I think it’s fairly obvious. Yet, what I shall point out are the ways in which Damon does know a thing or two about Bonnie that Jeremy should have known. Damon knows that loyalty is Bonnie’s defining trait and he knew this about her in the very first scene that they ever shared together. Someone should have told Jeremy about Bonnie’s loyalty to others and how important it is that that loyalty is returned. Perhaps he would have made better decisions. Damon also knew that Bonnie needed someone she could count on when she was taking on Klaus. Do you know what’s even more astonishing? Damon is aware of how much Bonnie NEEDS his help, even if she won’t admit it- “You do want my help and you don’t even know it.” It was Damon who the writers chose to take Bonnie to the witches burial ground. Isn’t that weird considering Bonnie and Damon don’t get along that well? And when Elena said that she needed one of the boys to take her to the scholarship thingy, Damon said- “not me, I have witch stuff to attend to with Bonnie.” Complete support. Damon even passed up the opportunity to go with Elena to help Bonnie. Then when he got attacked by the witches, he went and he waited outside for her and Jeremy and he TOLD HER that he would just be outside. He didn’t just leave. He seriously stood outside the door. And when he tried to enter back into the house and Emily locked him out he said- “you know you’re all on your own in there” before he left. He made sure to TELL HER that he couldn’t help her anymore. That says to me that Damon knows how much Bonnie relies on his support. He was warning her that she would have to do this one on her own. It was also curious words for the simple fact that Bonnie wasn’t alone. She was with Jeremy. Now do you know what that says to me? It says to me that Damon also knew that Jeremy couldn’t provide Bonnie with the right type of support that she needed. Do you know who else doesn’t know Bonnie though? Elena does not know Bonnie. Elena, Bonnie’s best friend, does not know a thing about her. She didn’t know that Bonnie wasn’t going to disable the device. How could she not know? Why would Bonnie ever do something like that? But Damon knew. In fact, what he said was- “I don’t trust you. I tried to kill you.” Seriously. Do you not see the sheer brilliance of this? Damon knew that he couldn’t trust Bonnie because of something that HE did. He didn’t blame her. He understood her. It all goes back to loyalty being Bonnie’s defining trait and Damon recognizing the Bonnie was not going to help him because of this, because of the fact that he had hurt her and he knew she would hold it against him. Now let’s talk about this scene above and how fucking amazing it is and how perfect my ship is. Again, Damon knew Bonnie wasn’t going to help him, HIM being the key word. So he turns to Stefan because he knows that Bonnie will cave for Stefan. CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN TO ME HOW?!?!!!! How did he know that Bonnie would do anything for Stefan?! I would understand if he turned to Elena and expected Bonnie to help her, but Stefan?! Why? Because Damon knowssss her. He knows her better than anyone for no apparent reason. He just does. He knew she would do it for Stefan because he knows that Bonnie is the loyalest person on this planet and for those who are loyal to her, she would give her life in a heartbeat. I strongly believe that Damon’s understanding of Bonnie’s loyalty is one of the strongest reasons why he always tries to get into her good graces. Because he knows that if there is one person who he should have as an ally, it would be Bonnie fucking Bennett. There is no one on this show who gets Bonnie the way Damon does. There is no one on this show who can SEE THROUGH HER WALL. Maybe it’s because he himself has a wall and they share so many similarities or maybe it’s simply just because Damon and Bonnie are so entirely RIGHT for one another in every way possible. I say it all the time, I’m going to say it again. Bonnie NEEDS Damon. Damon NEEDS Bonnie. They’re just better when they are together.

#tvd #bamon

bamonnineties

Why TVD was kinda cool. Why Williamson was missed. Why Delena shouldn’t have last and is against the actual LOGIC of the fucking show.

1. Listen, you can say whatever you want but Delena relationship has from the very beginning a very messed up foundation. Remember when Damon came to Mystic Falls? It was to open the tomb and free Katherine aka love of his life who manipulated him and basically destroyed him. He came because the conditions were reunited. Comet, etc. Still, the first time he met Elena, he met the doppelganger of Katherine, better he met a version of Katherine who could love him like he wanted to be. He knew that Katherine loved his brother and that he was just an entertainment. Elena was this naive girl, ready to be manipulated, loved and protected by her family. Well a version of Katherine who had everything on a silver platter, when Katherine was destroyed by an actual trauma / death of her parents and loss of her baby. When Damon came to her, he said what Elena WANTS. No. It was what he wanted “ A dangerous love, comuming you blablabla bullshit”. Elena was compelled to forget it, but I’m pretty sure that this declaration of Damon still subside in her subconscious.

2. Delena had to happen.

For a really good reason, for plot. Stelena was presented for a warm love based on trust and friendship. Elena and Stefan were friends who connected on a spiritual level, when Damon with his repeated harassment attempts wanted to steal his brother place without any concession. No battle fair and square. Stefan in letting go Elena did the selfless thing because he knew that Elena needed this relationship. He wanted to erase the frustration. He wanted to erase the doubt with “ is Elena want to be with Damon when she’s with me? “ something no one should get into. Look at this interesting parallel btw between Stefan and Damon. When Katherine was between the brothers, Damon didn’t let her be with Stefan resulting on awful emotional bruises. Stefan let go Elena and made his peace with it. He basically grew up cause he understood that we can’t control someone’s feelings.

Delena had to happen to make a point. For me it was completely sure that Delena was never meant to last. The Damned season 5 was the worst of Tvd, not because it was Delena centric, but because they romanticized a situation that was completely crazy. Delena fights were like a freaking day without end. Same pattern, same dynamics but NO CHANGE. Which is breaking the golden law of scriptwriting. A conflict has to be resolved. A fight has to be the expression of values. Both of these rules in story introduce an actual resolution. THIS resolution happens to make the characters forward. The season 5 was awful because the characters didn’t move forward. It was the same thing, over and over and over.

So, with some thinking, I thought it was probably what JP and the Writers room was trying to say. That Delena doesn’t change. Damon doesn’t challenge Elena. Stefan does. Challenging someone is not making them do awful stuff and say “ yaaah you are so cool”. NOPE. Challenging someone is making them realize another perspective. Damon’s perspective was against the values of Elena, and I’m sorry but the values of a oneself can’t be destroyed simply because of “love”. Also Delena sex scenes were more passionate, animal and numerous compared to Stelena. This difference everyone in the fandom saw it. This is why we can draw a line Delena- Sex/ Stelena - dialog. And Season 6 , Elena asks Stefan if she will have the same relationship with Damon than with him. and this is when I actually understood Elena.

Season 5, she says a lot the word of choice. She stands by her choice. It’s like she’s forcing herself to stand by this choice. Why? Because Elena feel guilty. She basically broke Stefan’s heart for the best sexy summer in all time, and didn’t even see that her best friend was dead. Standing by this choice… Elena wanted to be responsible: No she can’t go back with Stefan when she broke him, she can’t pretend to be a good friend when she wasn’t. So She has to stay with Damon even if she knows that it’s good for her. Season 5 was awful but interesting and really messed up. The end, the death of Damon was an opportunity to stop everything at its pinnacle. For me they messed up there. Damon and Bonnie should have been dead for at least three years. The time Elena needed to heal. To date. To get over it. Also, the powers given to Alaric was such a bad idea. Erasing her memory stuck Elena on a state pre-Delena so she basically NOT FREE. Elena needed to get crazy. It was Stelena time to go back, Stelena time to rebuild her making a parallel with season 1 when Elena lost her parents.

THEY MESSED UP BECAUSE OF CAROLINE DRIES WHO COMPLETELY MISSED THE POINT OF THE FUCKING ENTIRE SHOW

THE POINT WAS MADE BY KEVIN WILLIAMSON, you guys should definitely listen to Kevin Williamson’s interview in TVD forever :

He was explaining WHY he began TVD and it was because he was grieving. TVD was about finding life in the most desperate times. Hope. Light. GRIEF. This is why Elena falling in love with Stefan made sense. This is why killing Jeremy Gilbert MADE SENSE. Jeremy wasn’t supposed to come back. The idea was that you’re going to loose so many people but you will be strong enough to get through to evolve.

THIS SHOW WAS NEVER ABOUT DELENA OR EVEN STELENA. IT WAS ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP WITH DEATH.

3. So Now Bamon. Why Bamon is working and not Delena? Because the foundation built by WIlliamson WORKS WITH THEM. Bonnie is the one who fucking lost everyone without any possibility of return from the beginning. Dad, Mom, Grandma. Her mom is a vampire so she’s dead. Her father was killed by Silas, her grams was dead because she tried to release other dead people. Caroline is a vampire, Elena is a vampire so dead. Matt is barely alive. Bonnie wasn’t.

She was a tool, in automatic mode. She was barely living in using her magic in desperate times. Her obsession, her self-depreciation showed that she was a person DEAD INSIDE. This is WHY she was so prompt to kill herself so many times, to save people? No. To end herself.

And then. Damon happened. Damon who was the less alive person on the planet, MADE BONNIE FREAKING BENNETT ALIVE. SEASON 6 BITCHES.

Either it is a friendship or a love relationship, Bamon > Delena

Bonnie came back in the realm of the livings and the first thing she said was “ NOW IT’S ME. ME. FIRST” She was ready to kick asses for her, she was ready to BE ALIVE. THis dynamic is insane and gives SO MUCH SENSE to a loooot of things and critics.

Also, now Bonnie let herself be in love. Damon literally saved her life. HE GAVE HER WHAT DE SHIPPERS CLAIMED HE GAVE TO ELENA WHEN IT’S not the case. Damon gave Bonnie the freaking holy fire ( no pun intended). Also it’s kinda interesting how magic is portrayed as life…

Season 7: Bonnie cries when Damon leaves and kill himself basically gives up on life. This is a nightmare for her. How the one who gave her life and the will to fight can kill himself? It’s a fail. It’s her worst nightmare. And now Damon is missing with Enzo. She lost her magic. What if it’s actually emotional? She lost it becaaause she’s dead inside AGAIN?.

So this is why this tv show was interesting.

tarotofbadkitties

Lightbulb moment! Because the show is always bringing back characters from the dead and defying all laws to dissolve consequences to keep other characters happy, the only character whose circumstances have real emotional punch is Bonnie.

This show has a strange way of having Elena be the protagonist even when the main events are not actually about Elena at all. In the early seasons, the character that has the most important things happening to them or centering around them is Elena, so it makes sense for her to be the MC. Around season 4, it became routine for any danger to Elena or her loved ones to be temporary or a red herring, with the real stakes being in what Bonnie is doing and who she cares about. That’s when I started to especially notice whenever Bonnie is absent because I didn’t care what was happening to Elena or Jeremy, because I knew it was fake. I also didn’t care what happened to the Originals because I knew that wouldn’t stick either.

The show would have been a lot better off and much more consistent with its original tone and purpose if it had either committed to making Bonnie the main character after Elena became a vampire or they had done what other shows with magic did and made bringing someone back from the dead either entirely impossible or so consequential that nobody ever tries it. Then, when someone dies, it doesn’t become a question of “how do we get them back?” but “how do we go on without them?”

#bamon #tvd